1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of data security. More particularly, the present invention relates to a peripheral device that (i) converts visible images into digital data, and (ii) digitally signs the data to prevent its unauthorized modification.
2. Description of Art Related to the Invention
For many years, our society has maintained a paper-based, communicative infrastructure that relies on documents. Herein, a "document" is broadly defined as one or more pieces of paper of any physical dimension with visible images placed thereon. These visual images include alphanumeric characters associated with any language as well as symbols or drawings.
Documents have been widely used for a variety of situations. For example, documents can be used as "receipts" in order to provide a consumer with a record of goods or services purchased by the consumer. Sometimes, receipts are required to obtain a refund or credit for a prior purchase, to receive a reimbursement for work-related expenses, to recover damages from insurance companies, to support a claimed tax deduction, and other reasons.
As our paper-based, social infrastructure slowly transitions into an electronic-based, social infrastructure, it is contemplated that a temporary hybrid system, which supports a mixture of paper and electronic medium, may be necessary. This is due to the fact that there are certain situations where documents need to be processed in paper form. For example, it is believed that expense reports need to be filed with original signatures in order to obtain tax relief. As digital signatures become recognized as an acceptable alternative to handwritten signatures, electronic transmission of expense reports may become an acceptable practice.
Unfortunately, in the case of expense reports, other documents are usually required to accompany the expense report. These documents may include receipts for meals, lodging and transportation which are provided in a paper form. While we can expect that many receipts may migrate to an electronic format over the long term, some receipts may remain in paper form for an indefinite period of time. Thus, even if the expense report could be filed electronically, electronic-only handling of the entire expense report currently is not possible.
One possible solution to this problem is to digitally scan the receipts using a dedicated scanner to produce a data set, and to temporarily store the data set within a computer. Thereafter, the data set is transmitted with the electronic expense report. However, this creates an opportunity for illicit post-scan modification of the data set. Illicit post-scan modification would expose businesses to the danger of exaggerated reimbursement requests, and would also expose local, state and/or federal legislatures to claims of exaggerated tax deductions by businesses.
Thus, it would also be advantageous to create a system and method which discourages illicit post-scan modifications by providing a reliable mechanism to easily detect such modification.